Last breath or second wind for GOP conservatives?

John Meredith, of Huntsville, is a former Capitol Hill lobbyist who was recognized as one of the country's 100 most influential Black Republicans. He can be reached at Comments4Meredith@yahoo.com.

The reversal of the administration's child separation policy is the first sign that there is any hope of the GOP surviving Donald J. Trump. While known as the party of conservatives, it has been a long time since its policies reflected conservative values.

John Meredith is a contributing columnist for AL.com (Contributed photo)

Conservatives have been little more than window dressing when it comes to the workings of the party apparatus or their public policy objectives since September 10, 2001. George W. Bush purged conservatives who opposed the curtailment of privacy rights under his Patriot Act. They were replaced by so-called neoconservatives who had no political savvy or ideological parameters to interfere with blind obedience to power.

Conservative values continued to be ignored during the Obama years. Rather than working to ensure the success of that President where appropriate, something demanded of this one, Republican party leaders created ridiculous barriers to hamper Obama's efforts.

Instead of engaging in governing America, the GOP empowered members gerrymandered into safe districts with key committee assignments, chairmanships and leadership positions. Conservatives, now called establishment Republicans, took the heat for blunders neoconservatives could not blame on Obama.

Once the proud backbone of the Republican Revolution, conservatives now find themselves defending lifetime judicial nominations of folks so unqualified for the bench it is an anathema to God they would sit in judgment over anyone. Seats that the GOP refused to allow Obama to fill, as was their Constitutional duty, are now being filled by, in many cases, completely unqualified neoconservatives.

The conservative push to end the child separation policy did not happen in a vacuum. It took an angry electorate in an election year. So too, global condemnation from a free world that no longer regards America as the shining city on a hill.

However, an administration whose intent, justification and resolution regarding the policy have all been proven false, was the straw that broke the shameful code of silence and support that has handcuffed conservatives in what passes for a political party at the national level.

What conservatives must decide right now is whether the resolve displayed in opposition to the child separation policy was simply a one-off, or the start of taking their party back.

Making the party great again will require truthfulness. Conservatives must stop turning a blind eye to presidential hate speech, cyber bullying and shameless profiteering. They will have to cease the unnecessary, self-inflicted belittlement of their party each time they attempt to defend the indefensible. Most importantly, they will have to stop helping destroy the institutions of government in order to preserve political victory.

If conservatives fail to act, they will not be welcome in a post-Trump GOP. Worse, the policies of that GOP will be little more than the codification of second-class citizenship for any minority segment of the American demographic offensive to the new GOP. Members of Congress will be nothing more than Devin Nunez-style lackeys incapable of fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide oversight of the Executive Branch of government.

The deep state, a.k.a. Fox News, will swear the party is still unquestionably conservative while endlessly broadcasting party propaganda. Fox will also provide a ready pool of future cabinet members and agency leaders ready to spew whatever talking points future GOP Administrations demand.

Conservatives love God and country. I want President Trump to be successful. His success is America's success. That said, this conservative values truth and justice more than political victory. I would rather lose than lie.

I will fight to defend people of color's right to first-class citizenship in America. Faith in God provides the hope my fellow conservatives will once again express love for country through insisting conservative family values be reflected in Republican policies.